Category Archives: Mathematics Education Centre

It’s that time of the year again! But don’t panic – there are a wide range of resources available on campus to help you through the stresses and strains of the exam period, ranging from a wide variety of study spaces (that’s right, not just us!), IT help and personal and medical advice if things are getting on top of you. Visit the University’s one-stop exam support page here – http://www.lboro.ac.uk/internal/news/2018/january/exam-support.html – for more info.

The Library may seem like hub of all exam activity on campus, but there are a variety of other study facilities and support hubs student can fall back on during the exam period. To that effect, the University have created a simple one-stop shop web site detailing all the study support and learning facilities available right now on campus, ranging from study spaces and computer labs to personal support should things start to get on top of you.

The University have compiled a helpful web page detailing all the resources available to students during the January exam period, covering the availability of study spaces and computer labs across campus (no, the Library isn’t the only place to study!) along with details and links to the many and various other means of academic and personal support you can receive from the University at this busy and stressful time.

Improve your mathematical confidence and gain the skills to pass employers’ numeracy tests with a new free online course being run by our Mathematics Education Centre this June.

This course will help you improve or revise your knowledge of mathematics. You will gain the numeracy skills needed to succeed in both employers’ numeracy tests and the workplace. It is designed to build your confidence.

Over three weeks, the course will look at where numbers occur in everyday life and what numeracy means in this context. It will look at the rationale behind employers’ numeracy testing and the skills you will need to be successful.

In addition to refreshing your understanding of specific numeracy skills (such as percentages, ratios, averages and currency conversions), you will develop essential skills for interpreting numerical data and understanding statistics. The course will develop your skills through a carefully paced, step-by-step introduction to relevant topics with opportunities to check your understanding through quizzes. There will be feedback at every stage.

Loughborough University is offering two courses as part of FutureLearn, the first UK-led provider of massive open online courses (MOOCs). Both courses are free and can be taken by anyone from around the world.

‘Innovation and enterprise‘ will give you the opportuntity to learn how an innovative idea becomes a reality. The course is led by our internationally renowned School of Business and Enterprise and runs for six weeks, starting on 14 April 2014.

‘Getting a grip on mathematical symbolism‘ will teach aspiring engineers and scientists to think mathematically and explore essential concepts. The three-week course is run by our award-winning Mathematics Education Centre and begins on 28 April 2014.

A mathematics support tutor at Loughborough University has developed a special tool to give adults an indication of whether they are at risk of dyscalculia, a hidden condition resulting in poor numeracy skills which impacts on sufferer’s daily lives.

Clare Trott from Loughborough University’s Mathematics Education Centre has been working on the project in conjunction with Nigel Beacham for a number of years and she is now joined by assistive technology specialist iansyst Ltd and public sector service provider Tribal in order for the project to be rolled out commercially.

It is estimated that between three to six percent of adults could have dyscalculia, but many remain unidentified as screening is currently only available in children. Dyscalculics face challenges each day with tasks such as household budgeting, checking change or helping children with homework. It can lead to people being labelled as stupid, or labelling themselves because they get frustrated with their inability to use everyday sums.

Clare has been working on the UK’s first online screener, DysCalculiUM, which highlights adults displaying signs of dyscalculia. In turn this will mean individuals can seek further help. DysCalculiUM is designed to be administered by learning and disability support teams in colleges and universities as well as by human resources professionals in the workplace.

The Library holds several books on the subject of dyscalculia in stock, and you may find more information on the subject among some of our education and mathematics databases on Metalib, most particularly Inspec and Eric.